Someone who shall remain nameless because she is abandoning me for Thanksgiving this year (ok, fine, visiting her sick father wins out over a 14-hour flight to bring me pies ... I’ll admit I understand her reasoning) asked me for my turkey recipe. Then a friend at school asked for my cranberry sauce recipe when I was bemoaning the difficulty of finding cranberries in Melbourne (I murmured something about wine and sugar and cloves and her foodie ears perked up). When I realized that I don’t have all my Thanksgiving recipes in one place I got a little panicky – I’m not sure why... it just seems that as I get older and my memory gets more random / less reliable that I should document somewhere the deliciousness that is my T-day menu. Thus:
Apple Cider-Brined Turkey with Savory Herb Gravy from Cooking Light, November 2004; via MyRecipes. I don’t do that gravy though. After I remove the bird and big chunks of veggies, I pour off the liquid into a giant fat separator measuring cup through a layer of cheesecloth in a strainer and let it settle and cool. Then I put the roasting pan on the stove and let it heat up, then deglaze with white wine and scrape up all the bits, which I also pour through the cheesecloth and strainer. When the liquid has cooled enough I separate off a few TBPS of fat and – in a small to medium saucepan – make a roux with equal amount of flour, then I whisk in the rest of the liquid, adding stock if necessary to make the amount of gravy I need. (With 2 TBSP of fat I’d use 2 cups liquid.) If it is too salty I stir in some cream.
Spiced Cranberry Sauce with Zinfandel from Bon Appétit, November 2001; via Epicurious. Kid absolutely loves this cranberry sauce – when I mentioned Thanksgiving, this cranberry sauce is what she got excited about. She’s six and one of her fave dishes features Zinfandel ... not sure if this is cause for alarm or if she just has an, ahem, sophisticated palate. Anyway, I hope I can find cranberries. They’re not common here. Friends at school said I could probably get them frozen. (Make this ahead and keep in the fridge.)
Green Beans with Balsamic-Shallot Butter from Bon Appétit, October 2001 also via Epicurious. Emphasis here is on butter, mmmmmm. These are a good basic side-dish standby; you probably have the ingredients on hand (there’s only four!) – especially if you keep the haricot vert from Trader Joe’s in your freezer. You can make the Balsamic-Shallot Butter ahead.
The stuffing recipe I use is the “Basic Bead Stuffing” in The Joy of Cooking (page 482 of the edition I have). Cube and toast the bread ahead and store in a Ziploc until you’re ready for it.
Guy does the [white] potatoes (more smashed than mashed; with BUTTER, salt and onion). Sometimes I do sweet potatoes – but not every year. When I do, I just roast, boil, steam or microwave, then puree with some O.J. and maple syrup. And butter. You’re going to spend the rest of the day on the couch anyway, may as well just add butter to everything and make it worth it.
Above mentioned someone (whose name starts with “Ja” and ends with “ne”) usually brings pie. Since I was unable to convince her to come to Melbourne for Thanksgiving I’m not sure what I’m going to do about that. I am not really a baker. I will admit though that I’m good at pie crust. I think it is my compliant streak. I can be obsessive about following directions to a “T” and pie crust is scientific and exacting so, I excel. Elise has great instructions here with photos (visual aides are helpful with instructions that read “until mixture resembles coarse meal, with pea size pieces of butter”). The most important instructions to follow with pie crust are those regarding the temp of the butter (COLD. VERY COLD.) and the handling of the dough (AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE!). Comply and you’ll be rewarded. As to what to put in the crust; I’m stumped. Like I said, I’m not so much a baker. (Perhaps because I’d rather stuff myself on savoury than save room for dessert.) Sometimes I cheat and get the Pumpkin Pecan Butter from Williams-Sonoma. It makes a delish pie and is idiot proof. (I didn’t see it when I just tried to link to it on their site. Maybe they don’t carry it anymore? They finally realized that sales will never match the year that a then-store-manager to whom I am closely genetically relates (apple : tree) bought it by the case to win an All-clad contest.) Alas; no Williams-Sonoma here anyway. Perhaps an apple crisp for dessert. (JOC, page 900, in the chapter titled “American Fruit Desserts” – how appropriate for a US holiday meal as an expat!) Or, this bread pudding, which is so easy I did it as a class project in Kid’s preschool class (everyone got to butter a slice of bread and crack an egg – then we ate it for snack ... then, within the week, five moms emailed me for the recipe). True, the pilgrims wouldn’t have eaten this, but boy would they be jealous to know that we might (after they got over the central heat and running water and cars and infant mortality rates in the single digits and all). I normally make it in a casserole dish instead of individual ramekins and I’ve done it with raspberry jam and that was yummy, too.
I am trying to convince Guy that we should do our feast on Friday because then it will be Thursday in the States and I don’t want to do Thanksgiving on a school night. Regardless, I’m realizing that I’d better start now! Having all the recipes in one place abates the panic – but I still have to find a turkey (I think Aldi has frozen ones ... or I can order one from a butcher – Aussies tend to buy their meat at butchers and fruit and veg at fruit stands; better quality and cheaper) and those cranberries! Ok then, signing off – bon appétit, happy cooking and all that!
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